Edit This Favorite

Getting Out

When I first had a tube,
it went into my nose and down to the stomach. I used it all of the time with a
feeding bag and it sufficed for everyday feeding. When I went to the hospital
for hyperbarics, I took the bag along and I would find a room I could use for
feeding. This was a daily event until the doctor said I was healed and didn’t
need hyperbarics anymore.

Later, when I was going
for a checkup, my wife and I would stop and get a meal at a fast food place for
my wife. Then we would pull into an area off the beaten path and I would take a
pole that I carried in the van, put the bag on it, and sit at the back of the
van with my wife and feed. When I was finished, I would use water from a large
container that I carried to rinse the bag and tubes and everything was fine.

As a matter of fact, we
would also travel to various malls and shop. When lunchtime would come I would
get my wife a meal and we would go to the van. At one mall there was an outside
place that had a pole permanently in place that had a hook on it we used. At
other times we would ride around and do the same thing at roadside covered
tables.

One day I was home feeding
and something went wrong. I didn’t want to throw the formula away so I poured it
into a big glass and used the syringe to feed. That was how the feeding bag got
relegated to the home. It was time to get a low-profile feeding tube put in, and
I started to use the syringe more frequently. We started to go to restaurants
and I started ordering a glass of water and an empty glass. We find ourselves at
restaurants quite frequently.

Vacation

Now this may seem to be
enough adventure, but every year the family goes to the Outer Banks for vacation
and I use this method of eating on the way down, when we go out to eat, and on
the way back. It is no problem because the van has room to carry several cases
of liquid nutrition. We have been many places, like the Thomas Jefferson home
and Myrtle Beach.

It gets sticky when you
are flying someplace. On a trip to Disney World with two of our daughters and
their families, I stopped after getting off the plane and before arriving at the
motel and got my necessary nutrition at Wal-Mart. I had a large bag that I could
put on like a belt [a fanny pack] and had the meal with me.

Another time one of my
daughters invited us to go along to the Grand Canyon. That was too good to turn
down, so we flew to Phoenix. I got enough nutrition to go to the canyon and made
many stops between there and Lake Powell. We also toured the Gulf Coast on a
trip to Mississippi, and later to Pensacola, Florida.

We decided to take a
cruise with another of our daughters and her husband. I can’t say enough about
the service on these cruises and they provided me with nutrition for the whole
time. It certainly was different, especially our stopover in Belize. They had
some pyramids and we ate in a small town. Another stop was Key West. We had a
magnificent time, and I had my lunch in a famous bar/restaurant.

We made another trip with
our fourth daughter who needed a ride to Vermont to see her sister-in-law. It
was apparent we were going to be there for several days, so we decided to head
north and visit Montreal. We had a good time and took a tour of the city.
Afterward I was walking and found a way to get down under the city. I had
several of my meals at restaurants in this part of the city.

Being Resourceful

What do you do when it is
time for you to eat but you will not get home for several hours and you don’t
have your formula? It happened to me. I took my wife into a fast food restaurant
and ordered a glass of water and a vanilla milkshake. When it came it was thick,
so I got a pint of milk and stirred it in. When it was a proper thinness that I
could get it in the syringe, I fed that way. The glass of water was very handy
to get the shake through the tube and to clean out the tube and syringe.

Conclusion

It doesn’t matter where
you are and what the native language is. You can always get a meal, even if it
is one you carry yourself, because you can always order a glass of water and an
empty glass. I just hope you get the idea that you don’t have to stay home any
more.

One more tip: When staying
at a motel or other strange place, be sure you include an “S” shaped hook, as
you may use it to hang your bag from the curtain rod in the room. Or you can do
as I started to do, and just use the syringe.

Further Advice on Traveling with Tube Feeding

I read with interest the article in the latest Oley newsletter about traveling
with a feeding tube [“Tube Talk,” September/October 2012]. I’ve never used a bag
except in skilled nursing, and I hated it. Traveling is much easier using
gravity feed syringes, 8 oz cans of formula, and bottled water. If one has a
faraway destination in mind those things can be shipped ahead. For shorter
jaunts of a week or less everything can be carried in your vehicle with the
supplies diminishing from day to day.

This website is an educational resource. It is not intended to provide medical advice or recommend a course of treatment. You should discuss all issues, ideas, suggestions, etc. with your clinician prior to use. Clinicians in a relevant field have reviewed the medical information; however, the Oley Foundation does not guarantee the accuracy of the information presented, and is not liable if information is incorrect or incomplete. If you have questions please contact Oley staff.

Updated in 2015 with a generous grant from Shire, Inc.

This website was updated in 2015 with a generous grant from Shire, Inc. This website is an educational resource. It is not intended to provide medical advice or recommend a course of treatment. You should discuss all issues, ideas, suggestions, etc. with your clinician prior to use. Clinicians in a relevant field have reviewed the medical information; however, the Oley Foundation does not guarantee the accuracy of the information presented, and is not liable if information is incorrect or incomplete. If you have questions please contact Oley staff.